- Aug 1, 2018
- 7,786
- 12,607
Not sure all that's accurate but if that's your perception then you may actually be ON the train. Congratulations!Student support, 2 years of sellout home games, Gator walk practically impossible to get near unless you grabbed a spot at the barricades 2 hours early. Yes, the fanbase rallied around Napier way more than they did Mullen or McElwain. This was supposed to be a new chapter with someone who cared and was organized and committed enough to restore the brand, something neither of the last coaches had shown. Even now, I think a majority of people would rather win with him than with JM or DM. You can’t blame them for turning on someone who seems dead set on doing things his way in spite of mountains of evidence that isn’t working. They’re rightly pissed. But that doesn’t dismiss the welcome and support he initially received.
As for him doing things his own way, name 1 coach that acquiesces to public opinion. And I'm not talking about financial sway/pressure from big $$ donors. CBN truly believes he's already addressed the issues. (he hasn't)
Even Spurrier was adamant to put his QBs in the gun but finally did so. But John-Q public tends to NOT complain when a team is winning so there's plenty of criticism w/CBN. And rightly so.
But we've railed against CBN's play calling for 2 yrs now and while he hasn't said he's changing anything in that regard going into year 3, we've yet to see him call a game THIS year. So things might change.
Do I think they'll change? Kind of, yes. I think Mertz's familiarity with the offense will open up some things for us. I think our O-line will be pretty good too. And I think our WRs are faster so maybe we'll see some stretch plays.
But I think the biggest difference will be because he now knows we're tired of his play selection and ineptness and so if the team falters at all on offense then he'll have to change things immediately and would lean on his 2 OC's (by title only). Even though he says he won't make changes mid-season. I think we'll see some separation of play calling duty that will be situational or he'll take suggestions from his 2 OCs. It'll start off small in-season and may grow if successful. Hell, it might be so subtle that it's not even noticeable. And he damn sure won't admit that it was different or somebody else's input. But we'll know if they start winning games against this schedule and do so by more than 1 score.
And I know everyone here disagrees.